The Twitter handles featured in Franson's post were chosen strategically, as she makes clear in a comment -- Aaron Ley is the son of Carol Wenner, a Democrat who is running against Republican Douglas County Commissioner Dan Olson, while Megan Gamble "is the finance person on MN United for All Families - the front group for destroying traditional marriage," to use Franson's words.

Picking a fight with the popular but polarizing Vikings punter seems like a strange choice, especially for a politician who is seemingly already on the ropes. Then again, little Franson says or does make sense to us, which is why she's emerged as our favorite Republican this side of Michele Bachmann.

By the way, to check out the "greatest piece of hate mail ever" referred to by Kluwe, click to page two. It's actually really hilarious.

I find it super funny reading all this garbage, both sides act the same, same bs, same comebacks, same 3rd grade blame game. I also find it kinda funny that the people for equality are so high and mighty when they hears polls and metro news about them being in the lead and money raised and how there so much more open, yet they act the same way with bashing on people and making shit up and smearing them as the right, this Issues has by far left the core meaning of what it really is and that achieving happiness for the human person and gaining more understanding for each other, so why don't you get your head out your fuckin ass on both sides

I sure hope Rep. Franson loses. And Sen. Hoffman. There's something weird in the water in that area, apparently. Those are two nasty, vicious ladies. And they won elections. Hopefully their constituents are getting tired of their representatives embarrassing them. Rep. Franson's messy personal liaisons, and her clumsy handling of them, probably aren't going over very well either.

I fail to see where Franson ever mentioned Chris Kluwe, much less accused him of "undermining traditional values." Is this what your hatred of Franson has come to? Shameless lies? Well, you are liberals, I guess, and liberals lie. All the time, liberals lie.

@swmnguy You certainly write with great confidence about the races in Senate District 8 and one of its companion House seats, and so readers here in the teaming city might grant that your views have merit.

Sadly, what you say, seems plucked from fantasy when you hope for the defeat of Gretchen Hoffman in the coming election.

Gretchen Hoffman was redistricted into the same turf as Bill Ingebrigtsen, then decided to seek the Republican endorsement for the Seventh Congressional District instead of battling her colleague for the senate seat endorsement.

The delegates to the CD7 Republican Convention chose Lee Byberg over Hoffman on the first ballot. That happened at the end of March.

Hoffman is now mostly an ATM machine for groups like the anti-union Freedom Club (she gave them $10,000). Ingebrigtsen, on the other hand, managed to snag the endorsement of the powerful 49ers union, mostly because he didn't think right-to-work should be decided by a constitutional issue.

Since that's the case, one wonders why you bring up a female politician who is not the ballot---and hasn't sought any office since the end of March-- to pair with Franson. Is it so you can carp about "two nasty, vicious ladies"? "Ladies"? Taking your cues from the Kurt Bills campaign much?

Having watched the televised debate of Franson with Bob Cunniff, it's good to know that her DFL opponent isn't going down this road and is sticking to discussion of the issues. I imagine that Dan Skogen, Ingebrigtsen's opponent, also knows that Gretchen Hoffman isn't on the ballot. Indeed, both debated on public television last night. If you weren't so obsessed with sniffing Franson's panties, you might have caught that.

@jinxmchue you folks are pretty hilarious. Franson attacks supporters of the LGBT community with a BALD FACE EXTREME LIE that the LGBT community are undermining opposite-sex marriage, begs for help in fundraising, meanwhile Chris Kluwe is clearly someone fighting the "Marriage Amendment" push. Franson attacks ALL of us on the side of the LGBT community when she lies that we are destroying opposite-sex marriage. Lie, lie, lie and lie some more. It's sickening.

@Sallyjos Nice invective. I appreciate that. I merely brought up the fact that a relatively small region has "graced" us with two of the most vicious, mendacious, small-minded politicians we've seen in St. Paul for some time. I couldn't care less about Rep. Franson's undergarments. Her vile bigotry is enough for me. Hoffman earned my enmity with her lying Tweets from the Senate floor.

There is a particular type of woman politician the GOP is recruiting, just as there is a particular type of woman commentator fostered by Fox News. Again, looking beyond undergarments, one can see common traits. And they are reprehensible.

It would be very nice to begin the new Legislative session without either of those two. Now if we could get rid of their male counterparts (Dean, Leidiger et. al.) we might get somewhere with the task of governance. I say that without even a whiff (pun intended) of speculation of whether or not the men are wearing boxers or briefs.

@littleguy56289 No, it's you folks who are pretty hilarious when you make up crap in order to smear someone like Franson. Contrary to this article's title and text, she never mentioned Kluwe at all. Not once. Here -- read the relevant parts again:

"Yesterday, Franson singled out Vikings punter Chris Kluwe ... as one of the opponents of "traditional values" who is "funneling money" to Cunniff."

"Picking a fight with the popular but polarizing Vikings punter seems like a strange choice..."

This is clearly claiming that Franson directly referenced Kluwe. She did not and all your ridiculous tap-dancing will not make that fact go away. City Pages and Kluwe are flat-out lying about Franson. I believe in legal circles, that's called "defamation."

@swmnguy Just a note: since there was nothing to the rumor and the relative couldn't be contacted, my research into the rumor was never published. However, since the rumor appeared in a back diary on MPP, I'm responding to material has has been published, albeit by an anonymous diarist.

@swmnguy An anonymous poster ask me what my agenda is--but reference to his remarks are off the table. Oh yes, let's not discuss anything you've said, but rather focus the attention on me. Another attempt at redirect.

Since you asked: My name is Sally Jo Sorensen--@Sallyjos is my twitter handle. I blog at Bluestem Prairie. My posts about Gretchen Hoffman and Mary Franson are very public. Try Google.

I'd like to see Bob Cunniff elected in November. He's a strong candidate, though quite a bit more conservative than I am on reproductive rights and marriage.

Let's cut to the chase on those rumors from your relatives that you prize highly enough to seed in this forum. We've dispensed with their notion that Gretchen Hoffman should be defeated at the polls this November. The Republicans already rejected her bid for Congress.

First, as someone who grew up near a small town (St. Peter) and now lives in a small town (Hutchinson), I've really learned that local gossip needs to be taken with a grain of salt, and that as a writer (and blogger striving for some small amount of credibility) that any rumor about any individual's personal life need to be carefully examined before repeating it.

This is especially important to me as a feminist, since, sadly, part of the culture of domestic abuse/rape is to denigrate the victims. Moreover, there's a certain element of "slut shaming" for sexually active women that reinforces traditional gender roles. This can be very brutal in rural areas, as I've learned from talking to a couple of county attorneys who are concerned about ending domestic and child abuse, as well as my own observations as a girl growing up in Southern Minnesota and stories from the many young women I know in Hutch.

Second, that Franson might advocate for those traditional roles while not living them might make her a hypocrite, but her "liaisons" as you so delicately put it in your original post, aren't a warrant for spreading false information, nor for progressives to engage in mobbing behavior in order to defeat her at the polls. This tactic feeds the culture of domestic abuse. With our presumed values, progressives shouldn't go there, even when a woman is a fool like Franson.

Here's what I know about those rumors. While working as a freelance journalist, I asked by an editor (not the City Pages) to investigate a rumor that Mary Franson had abandoned her children and house to her former husband and was living with her boyfriend in the Cities. This is the substance of a back diary that was posted at the Minnesota Progressive Project which the MPP editors wisely chose not to frontpage and it forms the core of continuing allusions to her behavior. My editor heard the rumor from a different source.

I looked into the rumor and found that it seemed to have been circulated by a male former in-law who was very bitter about the separation. That Franson lives in the home when the House is not in session and has shared custody of her children--they appear to live in the home with her now--is ample evidence as well that, whatever information was in the MPP diary, the core of the worst accusations were simply false. The diarist never posted at MPP again. Other reliable sources have confirmed that Franson lives in her home with her children when the Leigslature isn't in session.

I've also reviewed Franson's campaign literature in 2010, and while she was still legally married, there's no mention of a spouse at anytime from the moment she declared her intent to run for office. She and her former husband were separated and going through the process of divorce. It's not unusual for people getting divorced to date--but she's been asked this week by a progressive radio talk show host to provide a detailed timeline of her romantic life. Classy: not even Amy Koch and Michael Brodkorb have been asked for that, that I know.

Franson's travails with an ex-boyfriend were well-documented on the City Pages. Perhaps an enterprising reporter might dig more into that. I'm not. I've seen no other "liaison" discussed in print or online, so your source for making it plural is--what exactly? Your relatives' gossip?

My opposition to Franson is published on Bluestem Prairie under my name, as are my objections to over-the-top attacks on her and other conservative women politicians. A 2011 Netroots Nation on getting progressive women candidates elected stressed the notion that gender-based attacks on conservative women harm all women and should not be tolerated.

Thus, when I see gender-based attacks on Franson that are rooted in rumors, I speak up. Indeed, it seems to me that her policy positions and foolishness like the Facebook fundraising post that generated this City Page blotter item should be enough. But for some inexplicable reason, I see progressives--most guys--returning to her romantic life on twitter and other online sources. This suggests that gender, rather than politics, motivates these attacks. Perhaps I am wrong and those making such statements are simply stupid.

I understand the need for some to remain anonymous online. However, when this is a cover for circulating falsehoods and rumors that are just a wee bit expressive of gender bias perhaps you might anticipate some criticism. Just saying.

@Sallyjos What's your agenda? I made a few flip comments. You're responding to something that wasn't in my comments. I'm a guy from SW MN, living in Mpls., who has relatives in that district. My scant knowledge of the district is based on what those relatives say and what I read in the papers. I'm willing to stand corrected regarding the district.

I'm not wiling to stand corrected regarding the public personae Hoffman and Franson have decided to project. They've adopted a model that is not isolated to them but forms a type. A despicable type. They don't live up to the standards they have adopted, and they're nasty to everyone else, too. They deserve to be ridiculed, based on what they have chosen to put out there.

@jinxmchue There are different standards under defamation law for commentary about public and private figures. Public figures include politicians, celebrities, and any other person who has put him- or herself in the public spotlight or has greater-than-usual access to the media. They can only succeed in a claim of defamation if they can prove that the speaker made his comment knowing that it was false, or with reckless disregard to the truth of the comment – this is known as the “actual malice” standard. Actual malice can be very difficult for a public figure to prove, and public figures are rarely successful in defamation cases.

@littleguy56289 Yes, you actually can defame a politician. That's undeniable facts 101. ("Common knowledge" more often than not tends to be common misconceptions.)

The fact remains that Franson DID NOT "SINGLE OUT KLUWE" or anyone else other than her opponent (whom she didn't even mention by name). Perhaps you could explain to me how "picking a fight with everyone" equates to specifically "singling out" someone.

No, I'm not sad that we don't have a "high-profile" (who wouldn't be high-profile at all except for a vulgar, juvenile rant he posted online), putrid-mouthed, children's game-playing, arrogant, relevance-inventing jackhole on our side. Are you proud of having that for your side?

No, I think he's sad that he can't be open to love whomever he wants to because he's probably been locked in the closet for too long. Ignorance and hatred will NOT prevail this November. I'm sorry for your loss, jinx.....it must be really difficult carrying that burden each and every day with only a keyboard to hide behind.

@Sallyjos I didn't miss anything. Your winking smiley obviously was intended to indicate you either don't buy her earlier explanation (though I don't believe for one second that you even knew about it) or you think she made her decision based on Kluwe's idiocy, even though the timeline doesn't jive. Either way, your thoughts about her on the issue are laughable.

@larryarms@Sallyjos Kind of missed the forest for the trees there, Lar. I addressed that game solely to prove that people like you were lying about it. Note that I was keeping track of the number of times violence was encouraged, the number of times "convert or kill" was encouraged, and the number of times a peaceful solution was encouraged. I played over halfway through the game before other life issues (family, for one) took precedence and found zero instances of the first two and dozens of instances of the last one. But, of course, just continue to ignore the inconvenient facts because the smear based on the lie is far more important to you. It is, after all, what you are doing to Rep. Franson, so why not anyone who supports her, too?

@jinxmchue@Sallyjos here is Jinx_McHue's blog where he actually has parts of it dedicated to discussing what happens when you reach certain levels of an "End of Times" video game http://www.shockandblog.com So, Jinx, keep ripping on Kluwe, who actually has a college degree from a very prestrigious public university like UCLA and then get back to us

@Sallyjos "slow or limited in intellectual or emotional development or academic progress"

When a 30-year-old male pens a missive that uses the phrase "lustful cockmonster," yeah, he's limited in intellectual and emotional development. Add to that the fact that he still plays children's computer games and plays with toys, and you've got a whole lot of immaturity on his part.